Conversations draws you deeper into the life story of someone you may have heard about, but never met. Journey into their world, joining them on epic adventures to unfamiliar places, back in time to wild moments of history, and into their deepest memories, to be moved by personal stories of resilience and redemption. Hosted by Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski, Conversations is the ABC's most popular long-form interview program. Every day we explore the vast tapestry of human experience, wea ...
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Reflections and thoughts of an Indigenous American Muslim.
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Voices and conversations on Earth connection; environmental issues; climate action & sustainable solutions through an Islamic worldview. New podcast every other Jumah (Friday).
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The magic of metallurgy — inside the ancient trade of blacksmithing
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Matt Mewburn, one of Australia's last blacksmiths, takes you inside the "iron cathedral", where blacksmithing is still very much alive. Matt didn't grow up dreaming of forging knives and sculptures over heat as hot as volcanic lava. He thought he might take over the family farm or become a scientist. But when Matt was 20 years old, his father unexp…
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'It was meant to be me' — the teenage TV star who feels 'lucky to be paraplegic'
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Louise Philip had just scored her breakout role on Australian television, in Bellbird, when a horrific car crash threatened to derail the life she was forging for herself. Louise Philip was 15 years old when she convinced her parents to let her drop out of high school to become an actress. She had just scored her breakout role on Australian televis…
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Exploring death and grief with heart and healing
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As a forensic counsellor and then a grief counsellor, Wendy Liu has spent many years right up close to death. Her work with people who are processing all kinds of losses has brought her a much keener appreciation for life. (R) Wendy Liu was a young woman on a social work placement when she realised she had a special affinity for hard conversations …
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How a macabre country childhood spawned a best-selling dressmaker’s tale
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Author Rosalie Ham grew up in a country town three blocks long and three blocks wide. She paid close attention to the characters there, like the woman at the shops whose face was frozen into Munch’s scream. This eye for detail led to her first novel, which became a hit movie starring Kate Winslet. Author, Rosalie Ham grew up in country NSW, in a to…
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The epic mystery of a female pope and the birth that was her undoing
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Writer Emily Maguire on losing her own faith, but finding awe and inspiration in a controversial myth about a female pontiff who some people believe sat disguised on the papal throne for two years in the ninth century. Writer Emily Maguire grew up in a very Christian home, where life revolved around the Church and prayer. By the time she was in her…
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From Yugoslavia to Australia — Jelena Dokic on tennis and the truth
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Jelena Dokic overcame adversity, poverty and violence to rise to the top of the tennis world. Years later, her revelations about her father's abuse stunned the world. (CW: discussion of domestic violence and coercive control). This episode of Conversations also talks about sport, training, family, origin stories, parenting, relationships, childhood…
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Journey inside Africa's cave of Great Apes to upend your understanding of the human origin story
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Lee Berger, National Geographic Explorer in Residence and real-life Indiana Jones with tales of his hominid discoveries, many of which have rewritten the story of palaeoanthropology. (R) National Geographic Explorer in Residence, Lee Berger, entered the field of palaeoanthropology when there was an infinitesimally tiny chance he would discover anyt…
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Why Andrew sets the table under the stars in the Australian Outback
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As Andrew Dwyer ventured further into the desert, he fell in love with the people and the landscape. He battled sandstorms, floods and isolation to serve fine foods under the stars. When Andrew Dwyer was growing up in 1960s Melbourne, the city wasn't the foodie destination it is now, in fact it was often described as a "culinary wasteland". But luc…
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Byron Bay, reality TV and Shane Warne's bowel movements — why Akmal Saleh hates the jungle
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An impulse decision to buy a home in the rainforest results in a comedy of errors involving a python in the roof, an unexpected tax bill, two reality TV shows discussing bowel movements with Shane Warne. (R) Akmal Saleh doesn't like the jungle or rainforests, or any of the animals in the jungle or rainforest. Akmal likes cafes and running water, wh…
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From the Commonwealth Games to Everest and the Channel swim — Gerrard doesn’t need to see to believe
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Athlete Gerrard Gosens didn't realise he was blind until his first day at primary school. His adventurous spirit led him to become a three time Paralympian, climb Mt Everest, swim the English Channel, and perform the rhumba on Dancing With The Stars. This conversation talks about family life, family history, childhood memories, origin stories, trai…
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What Jack Reacher did next — Lee Child on our favourite lone wolf
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How a Birmingham boy became best-selling thriller writer, Lee Child, and the creator of one of the literary world's most popular loners. (R) James Grant grew up in Birmingham when it was a bustling industrial city. While huge workforces would pour of the factories as men ended their shifts and headed home on bicycles, for children, there wasn't muc…
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From the Pilbara to Perth and beyond — the Indigenous psychologist doing things differently
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Dr Tracy Westerman grew up in the Pilbara, where suicide and mental health issues have deeply scarred Indigenous communities. So this Nyamal woman decided to do something about it. Nyamal woman Tracy Westerman grew up in some of the most remote parts of Western Australia, moving from a station to a town called Useless Loop, eventually landing in th…
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How a famous, broken bible changed the story of a family
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Michael Visontay with the true tale of how fragments of a rare Gutenberg Bible were sold off, leaf by leaf, in New York in the 1920s, and how the sale of these books, chapters and verses changed the course of his own family. Some years ago journalist Michael Visontay was researching his family history when he stumbled upon the story of a man named …
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From Bankstown to the Barossa: the story of Maggie Beer
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Legendary cook, author, food producer and educator Maggie Beer had a circuitous path to the food world, which began when she left school at 14. (R) Legendary cook, author, food producer and educator Maggie Beer grew up in Lakemba in South-West Sydney, and got her first job when she was 14 years old. Maggie had to leave school early to go out to wor…
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Panic attacks, pride, the navy, and Nate Byrne
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In 2024 Nate Byrne went from presenting the weather to making the news when he acknowledged live on air that he was experiencing a panic attack. Keeping cool under pressure is a skill Nate developed in his first career as a Naval Officer, and perhaps also from his days as a go-go dancer in a Perth nightclub. Nate Byrne is the Weather Presenter on A…
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A life-changing quince, backyard butchery, and ethical food obsession
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Chef Ben Shewry grew up on a farm in New Zealand where his family grew or hunted most of their own food. Ben was 10 when he started working in restaurants and his discovery of a second hand Thai cookbook eventually led him to Australia. In 2015 Ben become the owner of Attica in Melbourne and turned it into one of the world's most acclaimed and inno…
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Lee Miller: surrealist photographer, war correspondent, and gourmet chef
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Antony Penrose grew up knowing little about his remarkable mother Lee Miller, who had studied with Man Ray in Paris, and become a model, a photographer, and a war correspondent. But then an unexpected find in the family attic changed everything. (R) Lee Miller was a Vogue model, a photographer, and a war correspondent who studied in Paris with her …
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Helping people die on their own terms — why Bhawani became a VAD practitioner
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Bhawani O'Brien's first name means "giver of life" in Tamil, which is ironic she says, because one of the greatest privileges of her life has been helping more than 100 people in their dying moments as a voluntary assisted dying practitioner. Bhawani grew up in Malaysia with Sri Lankan parents, both of whom were doctors. She was also expected to be…
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Kanye and me — why John Safran squatted in Ye's Hollyweird mansion
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Australian Gonzo author and documentary filmmaker John Safran has made a career out of getting into places he probably shouldn't be. He put his sanity on the line in his latest escapade — breaking into one of Kanye West's strange homes. His latest slightly criminal expedition saw him squatting in a Hollywood mansion belonging to Kanye West. John ha…
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Changing prisoners' minds with Vedic meditation at Rikers Island
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Joh Jarvis was a high-flying boss when grief from a terrible loss began to overwhelm her. She tried therapy, exercise and healthy eating. Then she found Vedic meditation, and the experience was 'psychedelic'. Joh Jarvis is a Vedic meditation teacher. Every week, she travels into Rikers Island Prison — a notorious jail in New York City — to teach me…
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A wild Bollywood adventure — from Sydney to Mumbai and back again
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Indian-Australian actor and playwright, Nicholas Brown on being cast as a villain, and what made him end his time in Mumbai for a different life back home. Actor Nicholas Brown regularly appears on Playschool — cavorting with stuffed animals and singing about the solar system. Back when he was growing up in Western Sydney there was no one who looke…
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Aunty Ruth Hegarty’s life of defiance, faith and finding her voice
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The hardship, cruelty and loneliness of the mission system during the Great Depression didn't crush Aunty Ruth Hegarty's spirit. She found her voice, God and her family. (R) In 1929 during the Great Depression, Ruth travelled with her mother and grandparents to Barambah, later known as Cherbourg Aboriginal Mission. After being told someone there wo…
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Arnhem Land to Everest — surviving worst case scenarios in the wilderness
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From the unforgiving tropics of the Kokoda track to Mt Everest, wilderness guide Steve Ellis has made a career teaching bushcraft and survival skills to civilians and Defence personnel – and along the way he has survived his share of life-threatening situations. Steve Ellis' own first lesson in survival came very young. He was just 6 years old when…
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I was a political prisoner in Myanmar — and I could never hate the Burmese
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Following the coup of 2021, Australian economist Sean Turnell received an email from a "secret friend", warning him he was being watched by Myanmar's military. Moments later, the police closed in on him. Sean Turnell is an Australian economist with longstanding connections to Myanmar, the nation formerly known as Burma. In 2016, Sean was appointed …
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The coal miner's daughter and the bride stripped bare
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From Wollongong to London, via Alice Springs, this is writer Nikki Gemmell on her deeply romantic life, and how she defied expectations to become a famous author. Writer Nikki Gemmell grew up the daughter of a coal miner who thought writers were a burden on society, while her mum taught Nikki that only success was worthy of love. So Nikki went abov…
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